1. Technical Field
The present disclosure relates to a lighting control device and method and, more particularly, to a device and method that control a wireless light fixture using a virtual multiple terminal relay so that a master-slave bus type wired lighting network can accommodate a wireless lighting network.
2. Description of the Related Art
In order for a wired lighting network to accommodate a wireless lighting network, a specific configuration that is capable of performing the function of connecting wired communication with wireless communication like a gateway is required.
For example, Korean Patent Application Publication No. 10-2009-0093099 entitled “Wide-area Lighting System based on Wired/Wireless Communication” discloses technology that transfers control commands, generated by a lighting drive terminal, to a ZigBee gateway via a wired interface, performs protocol conversion using the ZigBee gateway, and controls light fixtures via ZigBee wireless communication.
As described above, technology, such as a gateway for supporting a basic wired interface for wired/wireless network lighting convergence, has been developed already.
However, there is a need for technology that is capable of, when a new light fixture is additionally installed or lighting layout is changed in an existing wired lighting network, integrating an easy-to-install wireless lighting network with the existing wired lighting network, which has not been developed yet.